Improvement in fountain-lamps



R. H. WEBB.

FOUNTAIN-LAMP. p No.177,045. Patented May 2 1876.

WMM/55am l M@ @wf/55% PATENT @Ferca ROBERT n. WEBB, on BROOKLYN, Assis-Non To n'IMsELF A HILL, OF LONG ISLAND CITY, vNEV YORK.

IMPROVEMENT IN FOUNTAIN-LAMPS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 177,045, dated May 2, 1876; appliation filed March 3, 1876.

To all whom it may concern: v

Beit known that I, ROBERT H. WEBB, of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Fountain-Lamps; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, ret erence being had to the accompanying drawing, which forms part of this spcciiication.

My invention has for its objects to secure a more uniform feeding of oil from, and the more convenient tlling of the reservoir with oil or other hydrocarbon used for illumination in fountain-lamps.

The invention consists, partly, in a chamber into which the oil feeds from the reservoir before flowing through the tube which carries the oil of the burner, said chamber communieating with the reservoir by passages for air and oil, such passages being so arranged that the lower mouth of the air-passage can admit air to the reservoir |only when the oil in the chamber is drawn out enough to partly uncover the lo wer mouth of the air-passage, and also in such a manner that air passing through the air-passage cannot meet the descending oil in any part of its passage, which construction permits the passage of air from the chamber into the reservoir, and oil from the reservoir into .the chamber in minute quantities, and in a quiet and uniform manner.

My invention further consists in the novel arrangement of a valve for shutting off the oil-passage from the reservoir when desired, as in filling, cleaning, and transporting the lamp from place to place. V l f The accompanying drawing illustrates the application of my invention to that form of fountain-lamp known as the student lamp.77 Figure 1 represellts a side view of such a lamp; and Fig. 2, avertieal section through the oil-reservoir, vent-chamber, passagesv for oil and air, tube for conveying4v oil to the burner, and thc boss in said tube. s t

R is the oil-reservoir, which is iilled through an opening in the top, said opening, when the lamp is in use, being closed by the cover c, which screws into the top ot' the reservoir. C is the chamber into which oil rst flows from the reservoir R when the lamp is in use, the

thread, and h the conical valve or point of said screw, which valvel tits the valve-seat 7c at the end of the oil-passage p. When the passage p is thus closed, the reservoir may be tilled, as hercinbci'ore described, without causing theoil to flow into the chamber G, and to overflow the same, as would be the case otherwise; and the lamp may also be more con-' veniently transported and handled, as the fluctuations of the oil in the chamber C, which partially uncover the lower mouth of the venttube o, would otherwise allow air to pass upward through said tube into the reservoir R, and the oil would then feed through the passage p in excess of the requirements for illumination, and would either ovcrow from the chamber C or from the wick-tube of the burner L. The upper margin m of the lower mouth of the vent-tube o is intended to be on a level with the top of the wick-tube in the burner L. The capillary action ofthe wick constantly draws oil from the wick-tube,l lowering the level of the oil therein, and also, in obedience to the laws of hydraulics, lowering the level in the chamber C, which communicates freely with the wick-tube by the pipe T; but the slightest fall in the level of the oil in the chamber C allows a minute bubble of air to enter under the margin m of the vent-tnbe o, which bubble rises through said vent-tube to the top of theA reservoir It, and permits an equal bulk of oil to pass from saidl reservoir through the oil-passage p into the chamber C, the screw-valve h being screwed away from the valve-seat 7c to open the .passage p when the lamp is in use. This passage of air and oil respectively through their proper passages is repeated at such minute intervals as to become practically equivalent to a constant ow, preventing the disagreeable gurgling and lit- ND JOHNv n.

`tains an Voir R, and the appurtenances thereof, joined ful operation ofetlier fountain-lamps. Oni the inside 'of the hollow b'o'ss `l,`virlii'eh g annular passage, Air, uniting the parts f of the passage in the tube T, lying on opposite sides of the pillar P, I form an abrupt female screw-thread, s, which ts a male serewthread .fon-med on the 'pillar P, that supports the said tube T, burner L, chamber '0, 'resel`- toffetller in the manner shown, said pillar bey in; supported at the botwn by "the pedestal;

B. This arrangement permits the easy turn-` ing of the burner about the pillar P, and the s raising and lowering .of the same withrone:

hand only, and the burner will remain where it is adjustedwithont the use of a setserew te fasten `the bessfb to the piila i.

1. The vent-tube tv, in combination with the ehamflrer C, the passage p, and reservoir R, substantially as and for 'the purpose herein ilesclfibed ,y

i2. The valve ih, in 'combination with the passage p, reservoir R, chamber C, and vent-tube v, substantially as and for the purpose herein ffl'eseribe'd. i I

ROBERT H. WEBB. Witnesses:

.MICHAEL RYAN, y BENJAMIN W. HOFFMAN. 

